A MAN who viciously smashed his victim's jaw in a street attack has been jailed by a judge at the city's crown court.

Kieron Sewell, 22, lashed out at Carl Findlay during a late night incident in the Currock area of Carlisle causing him a double jaw fracture with a single punch.

Sewell denied a charge of grievous bodily harm claiming he was acting in self-defence during the incident on October 4.

But after a trial at Carlisle Crown Court, a jury today unanimously found him guilty of the offence which happened outside his partner Gemma Foster's home as she looked on.

He was cleared of assaulting Miss Foster and damaging her car.

The court heard Sewell had been a boxer since he was a young boy and had recently taken part in local charity bouts.

Jurors were told that trouble flared in Mount Pleasant Road, Currock at around 2am during an exchange between Mr Findlay and Sewell.

The prosecution alleged that Mr Findlay was the subject of an unprovoked attack. But Sewell told the court he struck out in self-defence having been hit first by Mr Findlay.

In mitigation, defence lawyer Philip Andrews said of Sewell's attack: "It is a single blow. It is an unplanned incident. It happened on the spur of the moment."

Having been found guilty of grievous bodily harm, Sewell received an 18-month jail term from judge Barbara Forrester.

The judge heard Sewell, previously of Mount Pleasant Road, Carlisle, had 29 offences on his criminal record including several for violence. This included a previous wounding crime when Sewell had broken the jaw of a teenager while in youth detention.

Sentencing Sewell for his attack on Mr Findlay, Judge Forrester told him: "You must have been aware if you struck out that you could do more damage than perhaps the average male would."